So apparently 12 year olds are allowed in the Olympics...

 Yeah. No way that one girl is older than 12. Oh well. What are you going to do?

I notice that whenever I look at any Olympic gymnastic teams.  Heck, when my daughter was taking classes, I noticed it at our local gym.  I think it's absolutely ridiculous that these girls are trained to the point that their bodies don't mature and menstruate as normal.   

My husband was convinced that one was only seven.  They do really look incredibly young.

There were 2 of them that looked incredibly young, defiantly not 16. I love Bella Karoly calling them (the Chinese) out at every interview. It's not the kids fault at all, but the coaches and gov't

I found a NY Times article discussing the same thought - even down to finding some paperwork that suggests that several of the team are 14.  That paperwork has since dissappeared. :P

Yes! i totally noticed that! 

i'm just glad the gymnastics is over. from what i saw the americans and the chinese seemed overrated. how do you fall and still score highly? 

cyclefiend2000

 how do you fall and still score highly? 

I wondered the same thing, but I figured that maybe they're being judged on the degree of difficulty on the rest of the performance.  I noticed  the age thing too, and I'm surprised the Olympic committee doesn't demand a better proof of age, like a birth certificate.  Some of those girls look like they could be 8 or 10, but Asian girls do tend to be smaller and look younger than American girls and it didn't occur to me that some of them really were as young as they looked.

Joyce

BlackLabbie

There were 2 of them that looked incredibly young, defiantly not 16. I love Bella Karoly calling them (the Chinese) out at every interview. It's not the kids fault at all, but the coaches and gov't

I've loved watching Bela Karolyi's interviews too because he's so candid. It's really nice to see these days when everyone bends over backwards to not step on toes. I feel the same way too that it isn't the girls' fault. They're young and I think also in their society it would be just about impossible to say "no thanks" about competing.

Has anyone heard about the lip synching during the opening ceremony? Apparently a Chinese girl was unknowingly singing to another girl's recorded voice. The one singing was supposedly more attractive, so they used her appearance and the other girl's voice and what I've heard is that neither one had any idea they were being used. And I think China responded that they did it because it was in the best interest of their country. Wow, what a response. (rolling eyes) EVERYONE who cheats does so because it benefits them. It's just seeming to me that China is cheating like crazy...

Edited to add that gymnastics isn't over. Tonight is the men's individual gymnastics and then I think the women will be on tomorrow.

i actually havent watched any of the gymnastics. just wanted to say that chinese girls tend to be really small and underdeveloped compared to "white" girls... that's not to say they didnt cheat. just throwing that in there

Interesting read...

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news?slug=ap-gym--underagechinese&prov=ap&type=lgns

I think that if you are really good at it then it does not matter who you are competing against, ultimately that means the USA team was having 4+ more years of experience

The age rule is more to avoid 12 year old kids getting hurt easily than if they were 16, being 12 is not an advantage 

Rules are still rules and the rules were broken....  

I think part of the age rule is supposed to be for the competitors' protection. I mean, we caution people about working their puppies too strenuously before they're fully grown, right? Don't run them on concrete if you can avoid it, try to give them variation in their exercise routine, no long periods of jogging with you until they're older... that's so the animals can have a chance to grow normally without undue stress on their bodies, which are still vulnerable and developing. Same with horses - you don't take a yearling foal and start riding it around without seeing some very serious permanent skeletal damage.

While I do applaud and admire the athletes, it does upset me that they don't seem to have people looking out for them enough to hold them back a few years. The kind of high-impact, high-speed maneuvers they do (and practice over and over and over) just can't be good for their growing little bodies. :(